ADP slashed by 6.6pc

The revised Annual Development Programme (ADP) has been reduced by 6.6 percent from the original ADP bringing its size down to Tk 28,500 crore due to failure in implementation.
The Awami League-led government increased the original ADP by 33 pc from the last one and set its size at Tk 30,500 crore to meet the huge demand for public investment.
The revised ADP was approved yesterday in a National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at its auditorium with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
As the cash budget support increased in the revised ADP, the share of foreign resources has been made 58 percent (Tk 16,500 cr), which was 51 percent in the original ADP.
The cash budget support increased by 48 percent and stood at Tk 5,180 crore which is mostly provided by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
In the revised ADP, fund of the foreign-aided projects has been slashed by 12 percent (Tk 11,300 crore) due to their failure in implementation.
The government's policy is to reduce the number of projects and lay more emphasis on implementation. But in the revised ADP, the number of projects is 1,058, which was 886 in the original one.
Meanwhile, 464 projects have been kept without allocation in view of allocating fund to the projects approved in the next four months. A lump sum allocation of Tk 571 crore has been kept for this purpose.
Another policy of the government is to make more allocation to projects to achieve the goal quickly. In the original ADP, 346 projects were embarked upon for completion while the number of projects was brought down to 237 in the revised ADP.
Due to failure in implementation, allocations to power sector has been reduced by 28 percent while 8 percent in health sector, 14 percent in transport and 18 percent in physical infrastructure, water supply and public works sector.
However, allocations to a good number of sectors have been increased, as their rate of implementation was good. In the revised ADP the allocation for oil, gas and natural resources went up by 26 percent while for water resources 34 pc, rural development and rural institutions 10 pc, agriculture 5 pc, and education 3 pc.
The highest allocation of 14.94 percent (Tk 4,258 cr) went to education and religious affairs, 13.82 pc (Tk 3,939 cr) to rural development and rural institutions, and 13.61 pc (Tk 3,878 cr) to transport sector.
After the NEC meeting, Planning Minister AK Khandker told journalists that the prime minister had directed all secretaries to ensure 100 percent implementation of the revised ADP.
The PM also directed them to appoint efficient and honest persons as project directors and ensure that the project directors stay in the project area, the minister added.
Khandker also said, this year the revised ADP has been approved a bit earlier so that it is implemented properly. The project implementation would be monitored continuously.
He said if any ministry lagged behind in implementing the projects their allocations would be cut and the share would be given to those, which were ahead in the implementation process.
In the first seven months of the current fiscal year 35 percent of the original ADP has been implemented whereas in the corresponding period of last fiscal year 31 pc were implemented.
A high official of the planning ministry said the implementation of Tk 28,500 crore revised ADP would not be possible. However, in the first six months of the current fiscal year only Tk 8,807 crore could be spent. In the last fiscal year the size of the revised ADP was Tk 23,000 crore but finally Tk 19,701 crore could be spent.